Hurricane Oscar made landfall as a Category 1 storm early Sunday in southeastern Bahamas and headed toward Cuba.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued hurricane warnings Sunday for southeastern Bahamas and portions of Cuba.
Florida officials in Miami reported that the storm’s center was over Great Inagua island in the southernmost area of the Bahamas.
Oscar’s storm surge is expected to cause coastal flooding throughout the southeastern Bahamas through Wednesday. The Hurricane Center anticipated two to four inches of rainfall, with isolated amounts of up to six inches.
Forecasters are anticipating a more severe amount of rainfall for eastern Cuba, specifically within the Sierra Maestra, expecting five to 10 inches of rain, and isolated showers of up to 15 inches, through Wednesday.
Oscar formed quickly Saturday off the coast of the Bahamas.
According to the NHC, the storm’s maximum sustained winds were clocked at 80 mph (130 kph) with high gusts. Its center was located about 150 miles (240 kilometers) east-northeast of Guantanamo, Cuba. The storm was heading west at 12 mph (19 kph) and was expected to reach Guantanamo or Holguin, Cuba, by Sunday afternoon.
Hurricane #Oscar Advisory 6: Oscar Steady in Intensity as it Moves West-Southwestward. Landfall Expected in Cuba Later This Afternoon Along North Coastline of Guantanamo and Holguin Provinces. https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) October 20, 2024
Hurricane Oscar’s arrival comes at a precarious time for the island nation as it tries to recover from a blackout that has left millions without power. While some service was restored Saturday, there are still parts of Cuba that have no electricity.
A failure at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas Province, east of Havana, caused a blackout that affected half of Cuba on Thursday evening, reported the Associated Press. By Friday morning, the blackout engulfed the entire Caribbean country.
NHC officials said they were tracking tropical storm Nadine that formed off of Mexico’s southern Caribbean coast, and weren’t expecting Oscar to grow into a hurricane by Saturday.
“Unfortunately, the system kind of snuck up a little bit on us,” NHC employee Philippe Papin told the Associated Press.
Nadine fizzled into a tropical depression as it moved over land, but parts of Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico can expect heavy rainfall and flash flooding.
